Environmental

Sustainability
- Manoranjan Jha
Sustainability

Meeting the needs of the

present without
compromising the ability of
future generations to meet
their own needs.
When did we start talking about it?
After some disasters:
• DDT
• Chernobyl
• Ozone hole
• Melting North and South poles and many more
World Population: An overview
• Between 1950 and 2004 the world population
increased exponentially from 2.5 Billion to
6.4 Billion
1950: 2.5 billion
2004: 6.4 billion
2100: 8-12 billion

• Current avg. growth rate 1.25%/year =

219,000 people per day or 80 million per year.
Correlations with population growth
• World GDP
• Science & Technology
• Medicine
• Trade
More correlations
• Forest cover:  the total net loss in forest area between 1990 and 2000 was
about 89 000 km2 per year
• If there are100,000,000 different species on Earth then 10,000 species go
extinct ever year
• Percentage of green house gas is all time high
• July 2016 was the hottest month ever recorded
Warming begets more warming
• Large quantities of carbon dioxide and methane that are currently trapped
in frozen Arctic permafrost and tundra soils.
• Ice covers reflect a large amount of sun rays falling on it.
We think we can live on our own
If Bees go extinct
Human race wouldn’t survive for more than 4 years.
8th of August: World Overshoot day, 2016

• By 8th of August we had already consumed which earth could replenish in

year 2015
COUNTRIES WITH BIOCAPACITY RESERVE/DEFICIT

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/ecological_footprint_nations/
What if we miss the other two
• Loss in missing social and
economic circles are reversible
• Losses made in environmental
circles could be irreversible in
nature
What should be done?
We all know the answer
• Go Veg, as far as possible
• Plant trees
• Avoid Plastic
• Reduce, Recycle, Reuse
• Public transport
• Use and promote renewable energy
Indian Wisdom on Sustainability
• Dharma: which holds (naturally); something which one naturally holds or
should hold is dharmic
• Something which is dharmic is sustainable and vice versa.
• धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः Protected dharma protects
THANK YOU